The Brave One
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Metascore
56 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

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  • Starring: Jodie Foster, Naveen Andrews, Terrence Howard
  • Summary: New York radio host Erica Bain has a life that she loves and a fiancé she adores. But all of it is taken from her when a brutal attack leaves Erica badly wounded and her fiancé dead. Unable to move past the tragedy, Erica begins prowling the city streets at night to track down the men she hoholds responsible. Her dark pursuit of justice catches the public's attention, and the city is riveted by her anonymous exploits. But with the NYPD desperate to find the culprit and a dogged police detective hot on her trail, she must decide whether her quest for revenge is truly the right path or if she is becoming the very thing she is trying to stop. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 33
  3. Negative: 3 out of 33
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Where did Hollywood get the conviction that audiences demand an ending that lets them off the hook? Foster doesn't let herself off the hook in The Brave One, and we should be as brave as she is.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    The Brave One is "Death Wish" with a guilty conscience, and while it may be a bit of a hypocrite as vigilante thrillers go, the internal contradictions of the thing make for a very interesting picture.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: William Thomas
    60
    It wants to be a modern "Taxi Driver"; it manages to be the new Falling Down, with Foster as fierce as ever.
  4. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    33
    The end result, at best, is high-toned pulp.

See all 33 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 33
  3. Negative: 6 out of 33
  1. SteenM.
    10
    Love this movie with Jodie Foster, I have seen it twice already..a must see..two thumbs way up.
  2. FrankM.
    8
    Foster raises this revenge film to another level. She refuses to do the "bad ass" schtick and makes you really feel her loss, pain and rage.
  3. ChadS.
    7
    Nicole(Jane Adams) is only kidding when she refers to Erica's public display of affection towards David(Naveen Andrews), a man descended from Indians, as being "disgusting". The art gallery owner has an ironical lilt in her voice; she doesn't really hate her friend's coupling instinct to hug and kiss, after all, Nicole is east coast, a sophisticate, a card-carrying member of the intellentsia. Inter-racial relationships aren't supposed to freak her out. But not all walks of life share the same live-and-let-live mentality practiced by the broad-minded; for some, the very sight of a non-white male with his non-white hands all over a white female's body, is disgusting, sans italics. When "The Brave One" cross-cuts the couple's lovemaking with their savage beating, a correlation of cause-and-effect is made. They're being punshied. But by who? During the attack, no mention is made about either person's ethnicity by the perpetrators. The crime might not be racially motivated. But there's an inherent assumption by the audience that it is. The depiction of on-screen coital relations between racial disparates are relatively rare in mainstream film, so the editing has an unintended(or intended) effect of punishing the couple for engaging in physical love. As if "The Brave One" wasn't provocative enough, a cynic would suggest that David had to be non-white as a sort of license for Erica(Jodie Foster) to shoot black people in cold blood. She's not a racist because David was non-white. "The Brave One" isn't a racist film because Detective Mercer(Terrence Howard) is black. But what about you? Are you a racist?… Expand
  4. AdamW
    4
    Predictable and formulaic to say the least. Pacing was painfully slow, characters were under developed, and the storyline was unbelievable. I feel like I have seen this movie before (Deathwish), but hope I never have to see it again. The only redeeming quality was the A list cast giving B list performances.… Expand

See all 33 User Reviews

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